Novel deletion of the E3A ubiquitin protein ligase gene detected by multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification in a patient with Angelman syndrome

Angelman syndrome (AS) is a severe neurobehavioural disorder caused by failure of expression of the maternal copy of the imprinted domain located on 15q11-q13. There are different mechanisms leading to AS: maternal microdeletion, uniparental disomy, defects in a putative imprinting centre, mutations of the E3 ubiquitin protein ligase (UBE3A) gene. However, some of suspected cases of AS are still scored negative to all the latter mutations. Recently, it has been shown that a proportion of negative cases bear large deletions overlapping one or more exons of the UBE3A gene. These deletions are difficult to detect by conventional gene-scanning methods due to the masking effect by the non-deleted allele. In this study, we have used for the first time multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) and comparative multiplex dosage analysis (CMDA) to search for large deletions affecting the UBE3A gene. Using this approach, we identified a novel causative deletion involving exon 8 in an affected sibling. Based on our results, we propose the use of MLPA as a fast, accurate and inexpensive test to detect large deletions in the UBE3A gene in a small but significant percentage of AS patients.     

Effects of adenovirus-mediated bFGF, IL-1Ra and IGF-1 gene transfer on human osteoarthritic chondrocytes and osteoarthritis in rabbits

The study investigated the effects of adenovirus-mediated gene transfection of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), bFGF combined with interleukin-1 receptor antagonist protein (IL-Ra) and/or insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) both in human osteoarthritis (OA) chondrocytes and rabbits OA model. Human OA chondrocytes were delivered by adenovirus-mediated bFGF, IL-Ra and IGF-1 vectors, respectively. Chondrocyte proliferation, glycosaminoglycan (GAG) content, expression of type II collagen, ADAMTS-5, MMP-13, MMP-3 and TIMP-1 were determined. Rabbit OA model was induced by anterior cruciate ligament transaction (ACLT) in knees. Adenoviral vectors encoding human bFGF, IL-Ra and IGF-1 were injected intraarticularly into the knee joints after ACLT. The effects of adenovirus- mediated gene transfection on rabbit OA were evaluated. In vitro, the transfected genes were expressed in cell supernatant of human OA chondrocytes. AdbFGF group significantly promoted chondrocyte proliferation, and increased GAG and type II collagen synthesis than in the OA group. As two or three genes were transfected in different combinations, there was significant enhancement on the GAG content, type II collagen synthesis, and TIMP-1 levels, while ADAMTS-5, MMP-13, and MMP-3 levels were reduced. In vivo, the transfected genes were expressed in synovial fluid of rabbits. Intraarticular delivery of bFGF enhanced the expression of type II collagen in cartilage and decreased cartilage Mankin score compared with the OA control group (P = 0.047; P < 0.01, respectively). Multiple-gene transfection in different combinations showed better results than bFGF transfection alone. This study suggests that bFGF gene transfection is effective in treating experimental OA. Multiple gene transfection has better biologic effects on OA.     

Reversible DNA condensation induced by a tetranuclear nickel(II) complex

DNA condensing agents play a critical role in gene therapy. A tetranuclear nickel(II) complex, [Ni^II₄(L?2H)(H₂O)₆(CH₃CH₂OH)₂] ? 6NO₃ (L=3,3',5,5'‐tetrakis{[(2‐hydroxyethyl)(pyridin‐2‐ylmethyl)amino]methyl}biphenyl‐4,4'‐diol), has been synthesized as a nonviral vector to induce DNA condensation. X‐ray crystallographic data indicate that the complex crystallizes in the monoclinic system with space group P2₁/n, a=10.291(9), b=24.15(2), c=13.896(11) Å, and β=98.175(13)°. The DNA condensation induced by the complex has been investigated by means of UV/Vis spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, circular dichroism spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, atomic force microscopy, gel electrophoresis assay, and zeta potential analysis. The complex interacts strongly with DNA through electrostatic attraction and induces its condensation into globular nanoparticles at low concentration. The release of DNA from its compact state has been achieved using the chelator ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) for the first time. Other essential properties, such as DNA cleavage inactivity and biocompatibility, have also been examined in vitro. In general, the complex satisfies the requirements of a gene vector in all of these respects.     

Interorganellar DNA transfer in wheat: dynamics and phylogenetic origin

A homology search of wheat chloroplast (ct) and mitochondrial (mt) genomes identified 54 ctDNA segments that have homology with 66 mtDNA segments. The mtDNA segments were classified according to their origin: orthologs (prokaryotic origin), xenologs (interorganellar DNA transfer origin) and paralogs (intraorganellar DNA amplification origin). The 66 mtDNA sequences with homology to ctDNA segments included 14 paralogs, 18 orthologs and 34 xenologs. Analysis of the xenologs indicated that the DNA transfer occurred unidirectionally from the ct genome to the mt genome. The evolutionary timing of each interorganellar DNA transfer that generated a xenolog was estimated. This analysis showed that 2 xenologs originated early in green plant evolution, 4 in angiosperm evolution, 3 in monocotyledon evolution, 9 during cereal diversification and 8 in the evolution of wheat. Six other xenologs showed recurrent transfer from the ct to mt genomes in more than one taxon. The two remaining xenologs were uninformative on the evolutionary timing of their transfer. The wheat mt nad9 gene was found to be chimeric, consisting of the cereal nad9 gene and its 291 bp 5'-flanking region that included a 58 bp xenolog of the ct-ndhC origin.     

Gene tree correction for reconciliation and species tree inference: Complexity and algorithms

Reconciliation consists in mapping a gene tree T into a species tree S, and explaining the incongruence between the two as evidence for duplication, loss and other events shaping the gene family represented by the leaves of T. When S is unknown, the Species Tree Inference Problem is to infer, from a set of gene trees, a species tree leading to a minimum reconciliation cost. As reconciliation is very sensitive to errors in T, gene tree correction prior to reconciliation is a fundamental task. In this paper, we investigate the complexity of four different combinatorial approaches for deleting misplaced leaves from T. First, we consider two problems (Minimum Leaf Removal and Minimum Species Removal) related to the reconciliation of T with a known species tree S. In the former (latter respectively) we want to remove the minimum number of leaves (species respectively) so that T is “MD-consistent” with S. Second, we consider two problems (Minimum Leaf Removal Inference and Minimum Species Removal Inference) related to species tree inference. In the former (latter respectively) we want to remove the minimum number of leaves (species respectively) from T so that there exists a species tree S such that T is MD-consistent with S. We prove that Minimum Leaf Removal and Minimum Species Removal are APX-hard, even when each label has at most two occurrences in the input gene tree, and we present fixed-parameter algorithms for the two problems. We prove that Minimum Leaf Removal Inference is not only NP-hard, but also W[2]-hard and inapproximable within factor $c\ln n$, where n is the number of leaves in the gene tree. Finally, we show that Minimum Species Removal Inference is NP-hard and W[2]-hard, when parameterized by the size of the solution, that is the minimum number of species removals.     

H9N2亚型禽流感病毒细胞适应株细胞致病性和HA、NA基因序列分析

对分离自中国南方的H9N2亚型禽流感病毒A/Chicken/Guangxi/KMⅢ/99(H9N2)进行了MDCK细胞的连续传代和NA基因序列的初步分析.研究发现,病毒接种细胞36 h左右出现细胞病变(CPE),细胞肿胀变圆,聚集,脱落.流感病毒经MDCK细胞连续传代19代后,HA效价与亲代病毒相当.将传代获得的第19代病毒进行基因克隆,与亲代病毒进行序列比较,发现经传代后其HA1羧基端的分子特征是:R-S-S-R,仍属于非低致病力毒株.     

随机交配群体两对连锁杂合基因频率的演变模型

用差分方程组建立具有两对连锁杂合基因的随机交配群体4种基因10种基因型频率逐代演变的数学模型,把它们看成影射,发现不动点集位于一个超平面与一个超曲面的交集.超平面具有类似分岔点的性质,故逐代计算中需进行归一化处理.对育种工作中在哪一代选种有指导意义.